India's federal drug regulator will on Wednesday seize samples of Johnson & Johnson's baby powder for testing, local media said, following a Reuters report that the company knew for decades that cancer-causing asbestos lurked in the product.

SoftBank Corp shares tumbled more than 14 percent on debut, as investor appetite for Japan's biggest ever IPO was hurt by a recent service outage at the telecoms operator and worries over its exposure to Chinese telecoms gear maker Huawei.

The U.S. Federal Reserve is expected to raise interest rates on Wednesday, but may cut the number of hikes it anticipates next year and signal an earlier end to its monetary tightening in the face of financial market volatility and rising recession fears.

Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk made a brief public appearance late on Tuesday to unveil the first tunnel completed by the underground transit venture he launched two years ago as an ambitious remedy to Los Angeles' infamously heavy traffic.

Oil prices rebounded on Wednesday after falling for the past three sesssions with worries about oversupply and a slowing global economy keeping markets under pressure though sentiment may be shifting as falling equity markets seemed to stabilize.